‘Pokemon Go’ Campus Guide To UMSL

If you are new to campus you might be wondering why people are looking at their phone, flicking something on the screen, or even repeatedly tapping the screen. Most likely they are playing Pokémon Go on their Android or iPhone. Pokémon Go was released June 6 in the United States and developed by Niantic. Players can use an augment-ed reality or stagnant screen to catch Pokémon that pop up near the gamer based on their GPS location. Players then collect all the Pokémon available in the game. Some Pokémon are region specific and can only be caught in a certain country. Taurus can only be caught in North America, Mr. Mime in Europe, Farfetch’d in Asia, and Kangaskhan in Australia. Once players reach level five they can choose to join a team: Team Valor, Team Mystic, or Team Instinct. Each one has a correlating color: red, blue, and yellow. Players can take over gyms with their team color in hopes of acquiring

a defender bonus for holding the gym. If players are on the same team as the gym, they can build the prestige of the gym to a certain score in order to add their own Pokémon to defend the gym. If they are on an opposing team to the current gym leader, players can work together to take down the prestige of a gym and eventually take over a gym to add their own defenders. Items to heal Pokémon after gym battles can be bought or received from spinning a Pokestop. Various Poké Balls, Pokémon Eggs, Razz Berries, and various potions and revives can all be found at Pokéstops.

Pokémon Lures can be added to Pokéstops to try and attract rarer Pokémon to that location for 30 minutes. This is marked by falling pink petals from the Pokéstop. Pokémon Go is a free app that is based off of the Pokémon franchise released in the United States in 1998. Pokémon is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Nintendo is set to release “Pokémon Sun” and “Pokémon Moon” for the Nintendo 3DS on November 18 of this year.

There is a warning when the game starts that advises players to be aware of their surroundings. There have been reports of accidents involving players using Pokémon Go and driving, gamers walking off of cliffs while playing, and people being robbed while at a Pokéstop with an active Lure. Players should always be aware of their surroundings and should not play Pokémon Go while driving. Updates have caused the devel-oper to place warnings when a player is going too fast as a precaution. The Current counted 33 Pokéstops and four gyms on or easily accessible to North Campus. On South Campus, The Current counted nine Pokéstops and two gyms. If you want to add to the list, email thecurrent@umsl.edu.